Apparatus for separating or concentrating fine metals from pulverized material



e. CUfMENT. APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING 0R CONCENTRATING FINE METALS FROMPULVERIZED MATERIAL. I

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16, I916 L8%5,

3 D Patented July 9 1920.,

GIULIO CLEMENT, DIE MILAN, ITALY, ASSIGNOR TO CLEMENT GOLD TEAGNETOCOMPANY, A CORPORATION.

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING 01R, CONCENTRATING- FINE METALS FROMPULVLERIZED MATERIAL. I

asaaeaa Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July fit, 92m

Application filed December 16, 1916. Serial No. 137,474.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, GIULIO CLEMENT, a subject of the King of Italy,residing at Milan, Italy, have invented certain new and usefulimprovements in Apparatus for Separating 0r Concentrating Fine Metalsfrom Pulverized Material, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention has for its object to provide an apparatus forseparating or concentrating fine metals from pulverized materialscontaining these metals. littthis apparatus the material to be treatedis submitted to the action of an electric charge of high tension betweentwo surfaces, of which one is a metallic surface and the other a surfaceof non-conductive material. (in the latter the particles of the finemetals are concentrated by the effect of the electric charge, while theparticles of the mineral are rejected or ejected, effecting a thoroughseparation.

My invention will be more fully understood by reference to theaccompanying drawing, in which the apparatus is diagrammaticallyillustrated and in which similar reference characters denotecorresponding parts.

in the present embodiment or? my inven tion, (the apparatus comprises ahopper a into which is thrown the material to be treated and from whichthe latter is allowed to drop onto a metallic sieve 6. Below the saidsieve a surface of non-conductive material, such as a glass plate 6, isprovided which is carried by two superposed wooden boards 0, d insulatedfrom one another by glass blocks f. Fixed to the board at is a metalblock 9 from which a conductor or wire it leads to a transformer 70 fedfrom a battery is and connected by another con-- ductor Z to themetallic sieve 7), through the medium of a spark gap instrument m, n.The metallic sieve b, the non-metallic plate 6 and block 9, act as anelectric condenser, so that the separation of the metallic particlesfrom the pulverized material to be treated and dropped on to the sieveZ), will be concentrated along the electric force lines, passing betweenthe sieve Z) and the non-conductive plate 6, that is to say in thecenter of the latter, the metallic particles tending to form a wholewith the metallicblock 9, under the glass plate 6. The nonmetallicparticles of the material on the other hand will be thrown toward theedges of the plate 6 from which they can be readily removed, therepulsion of said nonmetallic particles being caused by the electricdischarge which takes place between the metallic sieve and the glassplate and which develops a blowing effect.

What it claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

The herein described apparatus comprising a hopper, an electriccondenser consisting of a metallic sieve, a non-conductive surface,superposed wooden boards carrying said surface and insulated from oneanother, a metallic block secured to one of said boards, means forcreating an electric current of high tension, an electric conductorconnected to said block, another conductor connected to said metallicsieve and a spark gap for regulating the tension of the-current.

lln testimony whereof I atfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

